Health Library

Understanding Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is sometimes called shock therapy. This may sound painful, but ECT doesn’t hurt. It’s often the safest and best treatment for severe depression. It can treat other mental disorders as well.

What Is Electroconvulsive Therapy?

ECT is used to treat people who are very depressed. It’s mainly used when other treatments, such as antidepressant medications, have failed. Often, it may relieve feelings of sadness and despair in just a few days.

Common Symptoms of Major Depression:

Feeling a deep sadness that doesn’t go away

Losing all pleasure in life

Feeling hopeless or helpless

Feeling guilty

Sleeping more or less than normal

Eating more or less than normal

Having headaches or stomachaches, or other pains that don’t go away

Feeling nervous, “empty,” or worthless

Crying a great deal

Thinking or talking about suicide or death

How Is ECT Therapy Done?

Before an ECT treatment, you’ll receive anesthesia to keep you pain-free. You’ll also be given medication to relax your muscles and control your heart rate. Your doctor then places electrodes on your head. You may have one above each temple (bilateral ECT). Or, you may have electrodes on one temple and on your forehead (unilateral ECT). While you are asleep, your brain is stimulated very briefly with an electric current. This causes a seizure, usually lasting less than a minute. Because you are under anesthesia, your body will not move even as your brain goes through great changes.

What Are the Risks?

When done properly, ECT is quite safe. Right after the treatment, you may be confused. You may have a headache or stiff muscles. But these symptoms often go away quickly. A more serious and long-lasting side effect is memory loss. Most likely, you’ll forget events that occur close to your treatments. Sometimes, you may forget larger blocks of time.

Looking to the Future

In most cases, ECT does not cure depression, but it can improve symptoms for a period of time. You may need a series of ECT treatments to continue feeling the benefit. You may also need to take antidepressant medications to help prevent symptoms from returning. But with ongoing treatment, you can have a full and healthy life.